Book markers



y 6, 1955 J. J. MUELLER BOOK MARKERS Filed Jan. 51, 1955 FIG.

FIG. 4.

F/G. 3- F/ G. 2.

/ 7 M INVENTOR.

A ne a United St t s Patent My invention relates to a marker to mark a given portion of a column of printed matter or lines of written matter in a book, magazine, newspaper, document or other written or printed matter, to indicate the point at which a person or copyist has read or copied.

My apparatus is designed as a convenience for persons who may be required or wish to stop reading or copying temporarily and by which they can readily locate the precise point desired at which to continue copying or reading when they return to their desk; to provide means which may be readily applied to such a paper and which will remain in position until manually moved; to provide such means which will be light, secure, easy to handle and adjust and which may be readily used by operators to facilitate the work of copying, reading or studying a given paper or instrument; to provide such an apparatus which will be durable, will not soil the hands or paper and will not require repairs.

I attain these objects by the means shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows my appliance applied to the leaf or page of a book to parallel the printed or written lines, in the preferred position as a guide to a copyist;

Figure 2 shows an edge view of the page with my magnet on one side and the keeper on the other side of the page; a

Figure 3 shows an alternate position with the keeper and the magnet extending vertically on a page instead of horizontally. Figure 3 shows the keeper in dotted lines;

Figure 4 shows an enlarged section view of the magnet 5, keeper 1 and the leaf or page 4 separated for clearness.

In Figure 2 the paper 4 is shown by a single line and in Figures 1 and 3 the leaf or page between the magnet and the keeper is shown broken away to economize on space. The printed or written lines are not shown as they may be of any form in common use.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

By the term page I refer to a page 4 of a book, to

the printed sheet of a newspaper, to a document to be copied, or to any similar printed or written matter.

My apparatus comprises a bar magnet 5 which is preferably a bar of hard steel or of suitable alloy properly magnetized to form a permanent magnet.

A convenient form of magnet may include a bar 5 about three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter and from one and a half to two inches in length. This magnet bar is to be used in combination with a parallel rod or wire of soft iron, steel or other metal subject to magnetic attraction as a keeper. The keeper 1 is preferably of sufficient length to extend transversely across the width of a page 4 of a book or to extend from the bottom of the page toward or past the top thereof. It is specially applicable-to such books as oflicial records in a recorder's ofiice or to court records or documents when being copied into such records..

The length of the keeper may be varied. to accom- 2,713,844 Patented July 26, 1955 modate the pages of difierent books or the documents to which it is applied.

With a bar magnet of the size stated above, a keeper of from one-sixteenth to one-eighth of an inch in diameter will he sufiicient, but may be varied for different sized magnets.

At the outer end of the keeper a ring 2 may be formed about aninch in diameter with a flat thin strip of metal 3 secured thereto extending one-half to three-quarters of an inch on each side of the keeper by which it may be secured to a page at the bottom or atthe outer edge thereof, with the keeper rod extending either upwardly or transversely of the page.

In the use of my apparatus by a copyist, the keeper is preferably attached to the outer edge of a page of a book or to one side of the edge of a document or newspaper and extends along the lines of print or written matter thereon on the under side of the page.

The bar magnet is then placed upon the upper side of the page and parallel and along the keeper. When so placed, the magnetism attracts and holds the magnet bar in close proximity to the keeper, being separated therefrom only by the thickness of one or more pages or sheets of paper. This magnetic attraction is suflicient to extend through one to three sheets of ordinary paper or one or more pages of an ordinary book, depending somewhat upon the thickness of the pages and the material of which they are composed, but the drawings show only a single sheet or page.

When so attached, the ring clip 3 on the end of the keeper 1 will hold the keeper in the desired position upon the page and the keeper will hold the bar magnet 5 in close proximity and in line therewith. When the transverse keeper so placed is manually moved along the page, a round magnet bar will roll along parallel with the keeper on the opposite side of the page maintaining its close proximity to the keeper. When the keeper is moved longitudinally, the bar magnet will remain stationary unless manually moved along with the keeper.

The keeper rod may be either round or square or flat as desired, and the free end may be pointed or rounded.

The magnet may be used with a metal paper knife if desired, although such a knife would usually be too heavy to retain its place upon the particular page unless additional means were employed to retain it.

The magnet and keeper may be constructed of various diameters and lengths and various cross-sections. They may be either round, square or flat and I do not limit my claims to any specific dimensions thereof. In practice I have found a bar magnet of from one and one-half to two inches in length is amply suflicient to remain in close proximity to the keeper with one or two pages or sheets of paper between them and by the term short magnet bar in some of the claims I refer to a magnet bar not exceeding two inches in length. Likewise, various means I for attaching or clamping the outer end of the keeper to the page may be used without departing from the spirit of my invention.

'I prefer to round both ends of the bar magnet slightly to prevent scratching or marring the page on which it is used.

In case the bar magnet is square or fiat in section, it will not roll along the page as the keeper is moved, but it can be readily moved by hand if desired, even along the length of the keeper rod and will adhere thereto in whatever close parallel position they are placed.

Various modifications may be. made in the size and shape of the bar magnet and the keeper and various forms of clamps or clips may be attached to the outer end of the keeper rod without departing from the spirit of my invention as expressed in the claims, and I do not 3 limit my claims to the precise forms shown in the drawings. I

I claim:

1. As a place-marker for books, a keeper rod of soft iron placed in contact with one side of a page of a book, and a round bar magnet applied to the other side of the page parallel to the keeper and in close proximity thereto.

2. As a place-marker for books, a keeper rod of soft iron placeable upon one side of a page of a book, a round bar magnet adapted to be applied tothe other side of the page parallel to the keeper and in close proximity thereto, and clamping means upon the outer end of the rod adapted to hold it in adjusted position upon the page.

3. As a place-marker, a keeper rod of metal subject to magnetic attraction applied to one side of a printed or written page, and a short round bar magnet applied to the other side of the page parallel to the keeper and in close proximity thereto.

4. In a place-marker for printed or written pages, the combination with a small round bar-magnet, of a relatively long keeper rod of metal subject to magnetic attraction of smaller cross-sections than the bar-magnet, and means to secure the keeper rod in contact with one side of a page with the magnet applied to the opposite side of the page in parallel with the keeper bar and in close proximity therewith, the keeper being adapted for manual adjustment upon the page and the magnet adapted to roll along the paper in close alinement with the keeper when the keeper is moved along in contact with the page when being adjusted thereon.

No references cited 

